The Kepler telescope discovered a dozen planets at the junction of the constellations Cygnus and Lyra, similar in size and conditions to Earth, one of which - Kepler 452b - can be called the "older cousin" of our planet, scientists said at a press conference at NASA headquarters …
“On the 20th anniversary of the discovery of the first exoplanet, Kepler was able to find a planet and a star that are closest to nearly complete copies of the Earth and the Sun. This finding allowed us to take another step towards finding a full-fledged twin of our planet,”said John Grunsfield, NASA Deputy Director for Science.
Photo: NASA / JPL-Caltech / T. Pyle
This discovery was made by the Kepler telescope, which for three and a half years observed thousands of stars at the junction of the constellations Cygnus and Lyra. Around one of these luminaries, Kepler-452b, located 1.4 thousand light-years from us, he managed to find a planet, which scientists have dubbed the "elder cousin" of the Earth.
It revolves around a star, whose mass and spectral type - G2 - are identical to our Sun, and it is located at the edge of the zone of life - a "donut" of orbits, where liquid water can exist, which in theory allows us to say that on its surface, in principle, can arise life in the form in which it flourishes on Earth.
Earth and Kepler-452b
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There are also significant differences - its diameter is about 60% larger than that of the Earth, which forced scientists to classify it not as a "twin" of the Earth, but as a so-called super-land, the exact physical properties and habitability of which are still in question.
In addition, judging by the age of the star, Kepler 452b is 1.5 billion years older than its "younger cousin" Earth, which, on the one hand, increases the chances of life on its surface, and on the other hand, it does not give any guarantees for this, emphasizes John Jenkins, one of the authors of the discovery.
This is what the surface of Kepler-452b might look like.
In addition to Kepler 452b, "Kepler" managed to find a dozen more potential "cousins" of the Earth, whose diameter is either equal to that of the Earth, or no more than twice it, and at the same time located inside the supposed "zone of life".
NASA hopes that studying them will help us understand how to assess the conditions on the surface of such planets, and prepare for the search for a real Earth twin, which will be engaged in the TESS telescope, the successor to Kepler, which is currently under construction.